Power clothes wringer



Dec. 8, 1931. v, 5 APPLE 1,834,924

POWER CLOTHES WRINGER Filed June 14, 1928 ll Emma.

Patented Dec. 8, 1931 A UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE POWER CLOTHES WRINGER Application filed June 14, 1928. Serial No. 285,870.

, My invention relates principally to that hearings in -the frame to permit rotation. type of clothes wringer having two rolls be- Flanged hubs 24 and 25 mounted on a square tween which the wet clothes are passed to free portion of shaft 21 have studs 26 carrying the water therefrom, the rolls being driven rollers 27, which may bear on the upper ed 6 from a power source,'the mechanism includ- 28 of the opening in plates 12. It may g: 55

ing means for starting, stopping or reversseen that when control handles 22 are posiing the rotation of the wringer rolls at will. tioned to extend vertically from the frame,

One of the objects of my invention is to plates 12 will be lowered and as the lower provide a wringer of simple construction roll bearings' 14 rest upon said plates the R having the least number of parts consistent WeI' r0115 16 Will be droppe & 0I e b e with simplicity and convenience in operation. distance away from the upper roll 15 the Another ob ect of my invention is to proupper roll 15 being prevented from followvide a wringer which insures the maximum ing downward to any great extent by the of safety from injury to the operator. contact of spring 17 with rounded portions 15 other bjects become apparent to 29 Of shaft 21. When hOWGVBI, control hanthose skilled in the art as the invention is de dle 22 is drawn downward in either direction scribed in detail and reference is made to the fr m the vertical position to a horizontal podrawings, Wherein sition rollers 27 acting against the ed es 28 Fig. 1 is a plan view of the wringer with 0f P es 2 ra se plate 12 and again ring such portions broken away as are indicated g I lS 1 d 6 together under re- 79 by lines 1-1 and 1 1 Fig, 3, silient pressure of spring 17 without having Fig. 2 is an end view. disturbed the adjustment of regulating screw Fig. 3 is a front elevation with the front ight springs 30 may be placed between half of the frame d, i bearings 13 and 14 to assist in forcing the Figs. 4, 5 and 6 have a portion of the frame T0113 15 and 16 apart when control handles removed to show some of the features in de- 22 are raised to their vertical p i tail, I Mounted near the end of rolls 15 and 16 Fig. 7 is a plan view of a Washing machine are gears 31 and 32 which preferably mesh which is equipped with my i d wringer so that one roll may drive the other but whlch 3 associated with astandard two compartment need not necessarily do S0 to 001116 Within laund y tray, the scope of my invention as one roll may Similar numerals refer to similar parts f h other y fI'IOtIOII If i F01 thruout the several views. illustratlve purposes only I herein show a R f i t th d i a frame 10 roll-reversing means which consists of a. 35 has as a part thereof guides 11 within which member amounted to rock Stud 34 and plates 12 may have a limited vertical movecarrymg Idler ears 35 and 36 on Studs 37 ment. Plates 12 in turn serve as guides for and A t 39 connected P the P bearings 13 and 14 which may have a limited source 9 1 g 40 Whlch 1S always m vertical movement in said plates; bearings 13 mesh h Idler gears 35 and 14in turn supporting wringer rolls 15 E g from one of flanged h d 16, A i 11i ti spring 17 i th 25 1s a stud 41 and extending from one S1d6 per part of the frame, by pressure on bearings P 33 15 another stlllfi Co nect- 13, thru links 18, maintains resilient pressure 1 Stud? 41 and 42 1s lmk Stlld 41 between the rolls. A regulating. screw 19 15 so Placed 1n ng h 25 that when P 45 (passing th t 20 may b dj t d t vary trol handles 22 are moved to extend verticalthe degree of pressure exerted by the spring. y from the frame, Stud 41 thru l E fi A square shaft 21 rounded at portions Stud 2 draws member 33 to P Whlch thereof passes thru and beyond the length holds idler gears 35 and 36 entirely out of of the frame 10 and has a control handle 22 control with roll gears 31 and 32. When how- 1 at each end and at rounded portions 23 has ever, control handles 22 are moved to horizontal positions member 33 moves idler gears 35 and 36 to such position as will contact either the upper roll gear 31 or the lower roll gear 32 to revolve the rolls in either one or the -other direction depending upon which horizontal position of the control handles 22 is selected.

Mounted on square portions of control shaft 21 are eccentrics 44. A drain pan below the wringcr frame is hinged on lugs 46. Studs 47in the drain pan are connected to eccentrics 44 by links 48. Eccentrics 44 are so placed on control shaft 21 that .when control handles 22 are brought to eitherhorizontal position the pan will-slope in one or the other direction as required.

" From the foregoing description it is apparent that when a control handle of my improved wringer is brought to a vertical position the rolls are spread widely apart and are freed from the source of power and from each other so that either may be freely turned by hand in its bearings and the adjustment v of the roll tensions is undisturbed; when the control handle is brought to a horizontal po-. sition toward the operator the rolls are brought together under normal tension, are connected to the source of power and made to revolve to wring clothes away from the operator and the drain pan is slanted to return the water wrung from the clothes toward the rolls may to wring,

the operator and this action may be had by the operator from either side of the wringer, an as there is a control handle at each end of the wringcr it may be conveniently controlled by either the right or left hand as desired, and when my wringcr is mounted on a column to swing thereabout in a horizontal plane to several positions as is common practice it will be found that one or the other control handle is always within easy reach of the operator 'in any of the several positions.

The advantages of my improved construction over common practice are obvious. In a power wringcr as ordinarily made there is a single control handle by means of which direction. The operator of such a wringcr must always remember to manually slant his drainpan in a proper direction when starting If as-frequently happens in ordinary practice an article of clothing being wrung out inadvertently wraps around one of the rolls or anything else occurs to choke the rolls and overcome the source of power the operator may reverse the wring'er if the source of power is suflicient to reverse the rolls against the choking action. This fail-. ing he may strike a catch. usually provided on most such wringers which release the tension screw and breaks the rolls apart. But breaking the rolls apart still does not disconnect such a wringcr from the source of power and the operator must then still reach the. control handle and stop or reverse the d filed June 14th,

be stopped or rotated in either rolls, after which he must reset his catch and readjust the tension of the rolls.

In order to more clearly show my improved wringcr compared with ordinary wringers I show in Fig. 7 a standard two compartment laundry tray and a washing machine 56 of the swinging wringer type equipped with my improved wringcr.

It is common practice to so place the washing machine with reference to the laundry tray thatthe wringcr may be swung to either of the four positions shown which I broadly designate as positions 48, 49, 50, and 51. The operator stands in position 52 when the wringcr is in position 48 or 51. He stands in position 53 when the wringer is in position 49. He stands in position 54 when the wringcr is in position 50. Ease of access to the control handles 22 is hereby obvious. However, when the operator of an ordinary wringcr is standing in position 54 with the wringcr in position 50 and necessity for quickly reversing the rolls occurs he may find that the reversing handle is too far away to be reached from his position as it is on many machines so placed as to then be in a position as at 57 several feet removed from his standing position.

While I prefer that my improved wringcr which I have herein shown and described be driven by a powerunit such as I show in my co-pending application Serial No. 285,369,

1928 it may be used in conjunction with any driving means desired and while I have referred to a number of changes which may be made in the details of the wringcr it isunderstood that other changes in the structure may be made insofar as they are not limited by the prior art and do not depart from the spirit of the invention the scope of which I aim to cover in the following wherein claim- 1. In a wringer frame, two roll shafts rotatably supported for a power washer, a

in bearings carried by saidframe, a gear on I each said roll shaft, a unidirectional power shaft, a gear on said power shaft, two idler gears and manual means carrying the two said idler gears, adapted to be shifted to three positions, the one position to insert one idler gear into mesh between the power shaft gear and the one roll gear, another position to insert the other idler gear into mesh between the power shaft gear and the other the third position to withdraw roll gear, and

from mesh with the roll both idler gears gears. 1

2. In a wringcr for a power washer, a frame, two roll shafts rotatably supported in bearings carried by said frame, a gear in each said roll shaft, a unidirectional power shaft, a gear on said power shaft, an idler gear bracket having rotative movement about said power shaft, two idler gears rotatably supported on said bracket and in to said rolls for driving said rolls in either dlrection, the combination of means for opbracket adapted for part rotation about said power shaft, two idler gears carried by said bracket, in constant mesh with said power shaft gear, one positioned to be swung into mesh with the upper roll gear upon rotation of the bracket in one direction, and the other positioned to be swung into mesh with the lower roll gear upon rotation of the bracket in the other direction, a central shaft,-a stud eccentrically secured thereto and operable thereabol'lt, and a link connecting said stud to said idler gear bracket as described.

4. In a power wringer having two rolls and. unidirectional power means connectible to said rolls for driving said rolls in either direction, the combination of means for operatively connecting the upper roll to the power means, means for operatively connecting the lower roll to the power means, and a manually operable levermovable in the one direction to render the first said connecting means operative and the second inoperative, and movable in the other direction to render the'second said connecting means operative and the first inoperative.

5. In a power wringer having two rolls and umdirec'tlonal power means connectible eratively connecting the upper roll to the power means, means for operatively connectmg the lower roll to the power means, and

a manually operable lever movable in the one direction to render the first said connecting means operative and the second in operative, and movable in the other d1rec-' tion to render the second said connecting means operative andthe first inoperative, and movable to a central position to render both said connecting means inoperative.

6. In a clothes wringer having a frame with two horizontally disposed axially parsaid frame one situated above the other, and a unidirectional power means for rotating said rolls, the combination of spring means for moving the upper roll downwardly, stops in said frame to limit said downward movement, mechanism for moving the lower roll downwardly and away from the upper roll, mechanism for operatively connecting the one roll to the power means, mechanism for operative ly connecting the other roll to the power means, and mechanism manually movable in one direction for simultaneously raising the lower roll against the upper-and operatively connecting the upper roll to the power means, manually movable in the other direction for simultaneously raising the lower roll against the upper and operatively connecting the lower roll to the power means and-manually movable to a central position to move the lowor roll downwardly away from the upper and disconnect both rolls from the power means.

8. In a power clothes wringer having a frame, two horizontally disposed axially parallel rolls one above the other in said frame, a tiltable drain pan supported on said frame below said rolls and power means to rotate said rolls, the combination of power transmitting mechanism to connect said 'power means to said rolls to wring forward or backward, a linkage operable to tilt said drain pan forward or backward, and a single manually operable lever connected to said transmitting mechanism and said linkage movable in one direction to simultaneously tilt the drain pan backward and connect the power to wring forward, and movable in the other direction to simultaneously tilt the drain forward and connect the power to wring backward.

9. In a power clothes wringer having two horizontally disposed axially parallel rolls. one above the other, power means for operating said rolls, a tiltable drain pan below said rolls, and a lever manually operable in one direction to wring forwardly, in the other direction to wring backwardly, and to a central position to stopthe rolls, the combination of linkage connecting said lever to the lower roll adapted to move said roll downwardly and widely apart from the upper roll when said lever is manually operated to the said central position, and linkage connecting said lever to said drain pan adapted to tilt said pan backwardly when said lever is operated to wring forwardly and to tilt said pan forwardly when said lever is operated to wring backwardly.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand.

VINCENT G. APPLE. 

